Could lusternian lore benefit from being codified and made accessible to new players?

edited January 2021 in Common Grounds
The allure of lusternia is that you get to write your story into the game. The problem is it's hard to do that when 95% of its player generated content is held in the hands of its long time players who were at those events and had the logs to prove it. If they stop playing, it all vanishes. Lusternia will loses and is essentially reset back to what ever is on the official forums, website and in the library system. - It's fragmented and lacking the context needed to understand it.

The only way to learn about it is to go ask an older player and hope that they are not busy or are in the mood. (they usually are) or to read the events post in the news system IG.  The news posts state what happens, without any of the context needed to understand these events. It's not a pleasant experience to marathon a huge bout of reading, on a mudclient IG. Anyone who plays lusternia, is by default a bookworm.

I suggest that players would be rewarded on at the organization and character level for filing cleaned up admin approved, logs of player run events. Rewards could be dailycredits or a boost to daily credits, and credit bonuses across the org for players who wish to buy credits or credit rewards to the organization. By default, these logs can only be viewed by the members of that organization only; unless an admin + org leader agrees to make it public. Public logs are put on the small subsection of the official website, to give new players a taste of what the game is like now. (i.e motivate to play! My stuff made it into the game and will remain there for all time, until it is taken down).

Lusternian science makes no sense. I mean we can answer complex questions about god/commune/city motivations but we can't answer questions like "what does Hallifax run on?" or simple ones like "Do we have magnets?" or ones like "what kind of tech or gnomish weapons?"

Designers are going to have an easier time of figuring out what's permitted and what's not. Admins don't have to keep fielding questions of what's
permitted and what's not.

Then on a meta level - why can't we remove the taint IG?

Obviously, the producers don't have to reveal everything, but there should be internal consistancy.

(I don't want to have to do a massive research project just to come up with a nuanced character that does not default to the lusterian/IRE standard of "crazy brain dead snugglebunny with no parents, who humps offscreen" or 'Crazy blood thirsty combat warrior with no parents".  or "I hate the opposing org because ...PATRIOTISM!" or if you get a new new player who is playing his/her/their first mud we're going to get a character that is "um...taint is bad" or "the light is good?" while asking basic questions like "How do I operate this game?" and then quitting because no one wants to engage, and it's no much to read. Figuring out possible philosophical angles for your character is going to be easier if you've got access to how lusternia works on a meta and physical level. )

Guys please discuss!

(@Iosai @Ianir @Orael take a look at this!)


Comments

  • To clarify, the events that really shape the game are admin run. Players participate, might influence the outcomes, and typically log what happened but its the admins steering the ship. 
    Typically, we grab that info along with other lore we've got and extrapolate.

    Some of that other lore is stuff like the Nature wars, for example, which has only really been communicated through snatches of visions. We've got a kinda outline of what happened but it's not quite to the same level as the Taint or Elder wars where we have relatively lengthy stories covering those periods.


    With that in mind, I think a good launching point could be to have stuff on the website to introduce those story threads, potentially also a help file and somehow linked in character creation.
    You could lay out plot hooks, character considerations, faqs, etc to kinda provide a broader overview of things you could use to ground your character's identity in.

    Seren might have some stuff about Moon and Hart, maybe one of the faqs is about the Ancestors (i.e yes they are ghosts serens varyingly summon, talk to, or otherwise work with), maybe there's another about if Serenwilde are the "good forest", etc.
    In that you could lay out breadcrumbs that can then point you off in the direction of different things you might want to look at or stuff that your character might like to focus on and learn about.
  • Isser said:

    Could lusternian lore benefit from being codified and made accessible to new players?




    Yes.

  • There's also stuff that's not necessarily relevant until you start digging into it.

    Like... one of the questions circling around right now is around the nature of undead with regards to divinus/excorable weakness/resistance because all four possible combinations exist in examples with no connection to the taint.

    A newbie getting started doesn't really need access to that, something about the Immanidivinus and Excoroperditio being two kinda cosmic level forces maybe but not super in-depth.
  • @Lendren that's why I suggested log submissions. Quickest and easiest way to file events.  Just slap a flexible submission length on it, and make the submitting player edit it for clarity. (dangle credit rewards.)

    On the main website, you probably only need 500 word summaries or thereabouts describing the biggest touch points of that year.  The point isn't to describe EVERYTHING that happened but to provide the context, and philosophical flashpoints in which to understand these events. Max the whole thing out at 2000 words. Write it like a history assignment that you're presenting IG. You only have maybe three minutes to present.

    For what actually happened, new players can go poke older players (Pssstt! I'm looking at you lot @Lendren @ Saran @Barrin @Qistrel ) for all the juicy details and work that into the daily life of the character.

    If there's too much lore to keep track of, only maintain the ones that touch on order/guild/commune/city motivations in the broadest sense on the website.

    IG, it's up to individual orgs to maintain their archvies - they can make it as detailed as they want it to be. With support from both players and admin, the basic shape of org history can be maintained. 
  • You could take a look at the route that MUSHes often take where they've got a wiki dedicated to allowing players to upload logs. However, were we to do such, would definitely like to seem them have standards, which means it would need to be moderated, which brings us back to "Who would maintain it" since it's fun to suggest/build things, but no one wants to maintain.
  • @Jatius The Admin? with support from the players.
  • See the Lusternia wiki for how well that goes, unfortunately. Not that I'm trying to poopoo the idea. I love the idea. But it does require a dedicated corps of individuals to keep up, and often times such ends up disappearing.
  • I'm confused as to what isn't being provided to newer characters. Many but not all things are in the New Events. There's an option to search news posts for keywords.
    Her voice firm and commanding, Terentia, the Even Bladed says to you, "You have kept your oath to Me, Parhelion. You have sworn to maintain Justice in these troubled times."

    Yet if a boon be granted me, unworthy as I am, let it be for a steady hand with a clear eye and a fury most inflaming.
  • This would really be something more up Uilani's alley - but I'll put in my two cents.

    We have several ways of recording history and events within the game itself already, from quests to books to newspost. 

    Additionally, part of the fun is discovering all the lore and digging deep into where it's available. 

    Codifying it, as is being proposed seems like just another addition that takes work to curate and maintain when we already have systems designed to really take care of it.
  • EveriineEveriine Wise Old Swordsbird / Brontaur Indianapolis, IN, USA
    Jatius said:
    See the Lusternia wiki for how well that goes, unfortunately. Not that I'm trying to poopoo the idea. I love the idea. But it does require a dedicated corps of individuals to keep up, and often times such ends up disappearing.

    I don't know if it's still the case, but for years the Lusternia wiki wasn't an open wiki--you had to be invited to be able to contribute to it. It was very hard to get anything put on it. There were rules about what was and what was not allowed to be shared (quest information was a big no-no).

    A truly independent, open wiki would have been nice, where everything about the game could be recorded.
    Everiine is a man, and is very manly. This MAN before you is so manly you might as well just gender bend right now, cause he's the manliest man that you ever did see. His manly shape has spurned many women and girlyer men to boughs of fainting. He stands before you in a manly manerific typical man-like outfit which is covered in his manly motto: "I am a man!"

    Daraius said: You gotta risk it for the biscuit.

    Pony power all the way, yo. The more Brontaurs the better.
  • Players reporting things to newsboards is always a great idea - keeps a record and informs those who weren't there what happened! 

    Also lots of player-run events aren't necessarily relevant to the playerbase as a whole like world events are. i'm curious what sort of stuff you think should be recorded that isn't currently being recorded? But i still repeat, org newsposts in particular, awesome idea to utilize.
  • edited January 2021
    Everiine said:
    Jatius said:
    See the Lusternia wiki for how well that goes, unfortunately. Not that I'm trying to poopoo the idea. I love the idea. But it does require a dedicated corps of individuals to keep up, and often times such ends up disappearing.

    I don't know if it's still the case, but for years the Lusternia wiki wasn't an open wiki--you had to be invited to be able to contribute to it. It was very hard to get anything put on it. There were rules about what was and what was not allowed to be shared (quest information was a big no-no).

    A truly independent, open wiki would have been nice, where everything about the game could be recorded.

    One thing I've considered previously is actually a wordpress.
    By having everything a post or page, you can use related content stuff to explore and link things dynamically, there's even ways to set it up to make it tag news posts.
  • edited March 2021
    To make things clear. I am not asking for an outside Wiki or wordpress. those things are irritating to maintain. I am asking for better ways to manage and keep our IG lore updated IG.

    Uploading relevant logs, and writing summaries (written by the person submitted the log) is an easier way to curate and maintain org history.  Perhaps repurposing the library system to allow for an 'archives' comamnd. that uploads everything to a confirmed timeline. Community votes to confirm to veracity of the log. I do not want every single little RP interaction uploaded. Though it would be great if you were allowed to upload logs to your characters history. (Not everyone wants to write complete summaries and so on)

    BUt events like when that flirtatious elven guard got turned into adasser and his spirit journey? That should have been archived. Give players dailycredits for that1
  • Tiny mini events like two prominent citizens getting married etc ...we should be allowed to upload that and make it part of the game. Lots of stuff like that gets lost or only exists on player hard drives. :(
  • and update official historys to reflect the events that have happened int hte game. like Hoaracle losing his hand. Or  Trilante being ....lost? recovered? or the eaf research projects (currently buried into  a news post within a system. You find out about it by ...asking another player who was there)
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